


Nesting

by a_novel_idea



Series: The One In Which Nothing Is Normal, Family Is Considered, And Clint Could Be More Bird-Like Than Anyone First Thought, But Really Only Has A Tendancy To Nest [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Comfort, Defending, F/M, Family, Fix It Fic, Fondness, M/M, Nesting, Odd Behvior, Quirks, Scent Comfort, Teasing, Threatening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-14
Updated: 2012-05-14
Packaged: 2017-11-05 08:43:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_novel_idea/pseuds/a_novel_idea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They call him Hawkeye for more than just his eyesight and aim.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nesting

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own anything.

Clint Barton has a nest.

The only people who know about it are Natasha and Coulson, and Clint prefers it that way. It's nestled in the high beams of SHEILD headquarters, just over a cooling vent and under a heating duct; it is the perfect temperature all year round. Clint considers that entire corner of the crawlspace as his, but the physical structure is a mish-mash of clothing and blankets stolen and still smelling of mostly Natasha, but Coulson too. They know (how couldn't they?) and Clint is absolutely positive that as soon as Coulson figured it out, he went and bought a dozen new dress shirts just so Clint could swap out the older garments for newer, freshly soiled ones. Natasha doesn't bother buying new clothes and just demands that Clint swap them out occasionally; she's not stupid enough to invade the space he's claimed just to take back a t-shit.

So, for years, this thing works; Clint has a place to go for comfort and reassurance and peace that includes his make-shift family even when they can't be physically present and Natasha and Coulson know where to find him when a mission goes south or he manages to escape Medical. It works. 

Until the world goes to hell anyway.

Four weeks are a whirlwind of havoc and confusion and after it all Clint has a hard time keeping it all straight in his head. He's injured and compromised and rescued and injured again and he's still completely in the dark about the time he spent under Loki's spell. When he comes back up, he has new teammates and Coulson is barely surviving under constant supervision from the best SHEILD can offer and he's being whisked off to New York City before he even has a chance to see his handler. He fights for all he's worth, and he really would feel better if he got to put an arrow through Loki's eye, but he doesn't get the chance before the battle is ending and Tony Stark of all people has saved the day and they're all convinced that the next best thing for them to do is eat. 

He and Nat sit closer together and really called for, but, hey, they both just escaped death and the enslavement of the human race, so they plan to take everything they can get. It's during this meal that Clint learns he might actually like the people sitting around him. Banner's dry humor is a comic relief and the near-constant bickering between the Captain and Tony is funny, and it reminds him of he and Nat when they argue. Thor is pleasantly oblivious to everything Earthly and this makes him ask laughable questions and he doesn't become upset when the table voices that laughter. 

Ten minutes after they're done, he retches up the heavy food in an alley behind a Dumpster. Nat kindly doesn't say a word.

So life goes on. He and Nat return to regular, if light, duty, and Coulson leaves the care of the doctors faster than either of his charges would like, but what do you do about an ex-Marine who just won't stay still? Nat pointedly leaves out that Coulson is worse about medical treatment than Clint. They're a unit again. With a few additions.

Captain Rodgers becomes a regular face among the SHEILD agents, as does Dr. Banner. Rodgers has nowhere else to go in this strange world and Banner has conceded to working in a laboratory with some of the world's top scientists. Tony Stark appears occasionally, usually when and how he wants, and vanishes just as quickly. Thor checks in periodically, now that Asguard has obtained the Tesseract and is able it harness the energy to send him between worlds at will; he spends most of his time with Jane Foster in the Nevada desert. 

They all still work together occasionally, when the world needs them to, and the more time he spends around them, the more Clint feels each of them being shifted into the family category in his mind. He struggles with it for the longest time, privately tucked away in his nest, because it's been just him and Nat and Coulson for so long, he almost doesn't know how to make room. And then one day, he just stops worrying about it. Everything clicks into place and everything is right in his world. He spends a little less time in his nest and a little more time boxing with the Captain or playing tag with Nat in the air ducts or bugging Tony in his lab. He's content.

And then the world, or at least the area of Chernobyl, Ukraine, goes to shit. Again.

HYDRA is attempting to harvest nuclear energy off of the blown reactor and has terrorized surrounding towns in the process and the abandoned city is absolute chaos. Buildings are being blown to rubble and Clint can't keep up with his teammates, much less the numerable HYDRA agents crawling all over the place and Clint feels a little bit of himself go insane. He's doing what he can to down the enemy, but it never seems to help. Coulson is a constant stream of information in his ear, and for the first time ever it's a hindrance instead of a help because he just can't help but wonder how far out his handler is and how close HYDRA could be to finding his position and it adds an entire new layer of worry to Clint's already blanketed mind.

In the end, HYDRA is defeated, but only because of their own stupidity. Thor comes away unscathed, but only because he isn't actually present for the fight. Tony is the least injured, with a broken ankle and temporary hearing loss from an explosion that went off too close. Rodgers has a broken wrist, arm and three fractured ribs; he won't be out of the game for long though, super-solider healing and all. Natasha has two broken fingers and a gash down her arm that requires twenty-seven stitches. They lose contact with Dr. Banner for forty-eight hours, but even he sustains a broken hand, arm, clavicle and torn rotator cuff. 

Clint himself needs eighteen stitches for a cut down his leg, a cast for his left wrist, patching and surgery for the two bullet holes in his abdomen and six blood transfusions. 

He flat-lines twice.

He spends two weeks in a drug-induced coma, all the while being hovered over by an overprotective Natasha, who shares her watchdog duties with Coulson, a concerned Captain, regretful Thor and a curiously silent Tony. The only reason he doesn't get a physical visit from Banner is because the man has been confined to a bed himself. 

It's some time in these two weeks that Nat changes the rules without his say-so. She puts Coulson on guard duty for a few hours and hunts down the rest of the team until they are all gathered in Dr. Banner's room. Tony takes the only seat in the room, as he is still limping around in that God-awful cast. Banner is confined to his bed and Natasha takes up room by his knee. Rodgers is the only one left standing (Natasha has purposefully left out Thor just to avoid awkward questions). The entire room is quiet for the span of a minute, save for Banner's heart monitor, before Natasha asks,

"How much do you guys really know about Clint?"

If they're all honest, they don't know much at all.

So Natasha explains. She tells them about the nest, though she doesn't tell them where it is, and she explains about Clint stealing clothes and that he's probably going to want a few of their things after he manages to escape Medical, and that she wouldn't be surprised if he already had a few pieces of theirs.

Tony laughs and makes a crude joke about Clint being kinky. Natasha promises to snap his neck if he ever repeats that to Clint’s face. She tells him to shut his mouth because, whether he wants it or not, he doesn't have a real choice so he might as well get used to it: his clothes will be disappearing.

Steve only has a few curious questions about why Clint does it.

"It's like having a lover that wears the same perfume every day, or washes with the same soap. After a while, you don't even know you smell it anymore until it's gone."

Steve's eyes glaze over and Nat knows she hit home with him. He agrees readily.

Dr. Banner asks if it's just clothes Clint can take; he has very few clothes because, obviously, he goes through them quite frequently. Natasha tells him no, that a blanket will work just as well. Banner seems a bit more relaxed when he learns that his clothes will not be disappearing at an even faster rate.

Natasha tells them that she will be around for a few items as soon as Clint wakes up.

Clint Barton escapes Medical three days later.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you liked it!


End file.
